[jt2190]

  > We operate on a kind of tiering system, technicians, 
  > sysadmins, and engineers. Sysadmins and engineers are 
  > generally the ones entering tickets, and the 
  > technicians the ones working them. Generally, 
  > but not always.

Right. In general, a sysadmin or a engineer ("someone else") decides what should get worked on, and enters it into the issue tracker. The technician is not involved in this decision making process: They just pull tasks and work to complete them.

To pull Markovitz' article back into this, the sysadmins and engineers are (I assume) able to push back on the business, providing a reality-check when plans are unrealistic, and they are the ones he's suggesting should not work off of a simple to do list.